Mark Williams will face Rory Thor when he begins the defence of his British Open title in Cheltenham in September.
All-time greats including Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy and new World Champion Kyren Wilson are in the field for the tournament which runs from September 23 to 29 at the Centaur Arena at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Tickets are ON SALE NOW from just £15 but book fast as certain sessions will sell out quickly now that the line-up has been announced. For details click here.
Williams beat Mark Selby in the final last year at the ITV-televised tournament which has a random draw for all rounds.
The first round draw has been made and all matches involving the top 16 seeds have been held over to the final venue. they are:
Three-time Crucible king Mark Williams v Malaysia's top player Rory Thor
Snooker's greatest ever player Ronnie O'Sullivan v Manasawin Phetmalaikul
World number one Mark Allen v three-time ranking event winner Gary Wilson
World number two Judd Trump v Robert Milkins
World Champion Kyren Wilson v Julien Leclercq
Four-time World Champion Mark Selby v Pang Junxu
Legend John Higgins v Ross Muir
Triple Crown winner Shaun Murphy v Ian Burns
2023 World Champion Luca Brecel v Mohamed Shehab
Barry Hawkins v Liam Davies
Ali Carter v Bulcsu Revesz
Ding Junhui v Aaron Hill
Jak Jones v Sanderson Lam
Zhang Anda v Jordan Brown
Tom Ford v Gong Chenzhi
Ryan Day v Louis Heathcote
The schedule for these matches in Cheltenham will be announced soon.
The remaining first round ties will take place at the qualifying round in Leicester from July 31st to August 3rd. Please note that there is no access for fans at this qualifying event.
All first round matches are best of seven frames and CLICK HERE FOR THE QUALIFIERS MATCH SCHEDULE.